Southern Nevada Water Systems

Water is treated at the Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Facility, located on the shores of Lake Mead, and also at the River Mountains Water Treatment Facility, located in Henderson.

History of the SNWS
In the 1950s, water agencies and local governments came to the agreement that more water supplies needed to be tapped to satisfy Southern Nevada's growth. The state was allowed 300,000 acre-feet of water each year from the Colorado River, but had yet to take advantage of the allotment.

The Colorado River Commission (CRC), and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, made a plan to develop a water delivery and treatment system, which they called the Southern Nevada Water Project. Nevada was not financially prepared to take on such an expensive project, so the CRC partnered with the Bureau of Reclamation to build part of the new system as a federal water project.

Makeup of the SNWS
The federal government built the delivery portion of the project, including a pipeline and pumping stations. This portion was called the Southern Nevada Water Project, renamed the Robert B. Griffith Water Project in 1982. Meanwhile, the state built and paid for the Alfred Merritt Smith Water Treatment Facility. These two projects make up the Southern Nevada Water System.

Construction began in 1968, and the system began operations in 1971. A second construction phase began in 1977 and was completed in the early 1980s. Additional capital improvements were made in the 1990s, increasing the treatment and delivery of water up to 600 million gallons each day.

SNWS and the SNWA
The federal government transferred ownership of the Robert B. Griffith Water Project to SNWA on July 3, 2001. The historic transfer, which cost $121.2 million, will save Southern Nevadans an estimated $13 million. The transfer also gives the Water Authority more control over the facilities it operates and relieves the federal government of liabilities associated with ownership.